The present invention generally relates to a rear seat arrangement for use in a motor vehicle or the like, especially in delivery vans and passenger cars of hatch-back type, etc.
As a rear seat arrangement of the above described type, there has conventionally been proposed, for example, in Japanese Laid Open Utility Model Publication Jikkosho No. 56/4513, an arrangement in which the lower portion at a forward edge of a seat cushion is pivotally supported on a seat floor surface of a vehicle body, while the lower portion of a seat back is coupled to the seat floor surface through a double hinge connection, so that when the motor vehicle is to be loaded with a large amount of loads, the seat cushion is rotated forwards for erection about the lower portion at its front edge, and by folding down the seat back into a space formed in the seat floor surface by the displacement of said seat cushion, the back face of the seat back is held generally flush with a load carrying platform located behind the rear seat arrangement for expansion of accommodation area for said platform.
However, in the known arrangement as described above, since the respective seat back and seat cushion are connected in series laterally into one unit, the whole rear seat must be simultaneously altered in its position for expansion of the load carrying platform, and thus, it has been impossible to meet the requirements for further permitting a person to sit on the rear seat, in addition to loading, for example, of a small amount of long length items, etc. on the vehicle.
In order to satisfy the requirements as described above, there may be considered an arrangement in which the seat back for the rear seat is laterally divided into two portions, which are adapted to be inclined independently of each other. In the above case, however, although change-over to a position where one of the seat back portions either at the left or right side of the motor vehicle is folded onto the upper surface of the seat cushion held horizontal, may be readily effected, the whole seat cushion still has to be rotated for erection after all so as to fold the seat back down to such a position where the back surface of said seat back becomes flush with the surface of the load carrying platform, and therefore, the above arrangement does not provide a solution fully satisfactory with respect to the requirements as described earlier, either.